July 2010
Sales for the month of June were 17 (SF-12, Con-4, Dup-1 & Lot-0) down from last year’s 22 (SF-9, Con-10, Dup-0 & Lot-3) and the lowest number of sales in a month since January. Still sales for June 2010 Y-T-D are up 40% at 150 (SF-92, Con-41, Dup-11 & Lot-6) over June 2009 Y-T-D at 107 (SF-54, Con-41, Dup-6 & Lot-6). The number of sales transactions on the island continues to increase. At year end 2009 there were 234 properties sold, in the last 12 months there were 277 properties sold and the current year to date numbers are running well ahead of that rate with 150 properties sold in the first 6 months of 2010.
Island Real Estate put 3 properties under contract and closed 8 properties in June. As you can see from the charts below, comparing the end of 2009 sales prices to the last 12 months and the current year to date, average and median sales prices are ticking up. Even though sales for June were below average, pending sales (properties under contract) continue to be strong with 67 properties currently pended (SF-33, Con-21, Dup-9 & Lot-4).  Inventory on the island, which seems to have stabilized in the mid 500’s over the last 6 months, is currently at 548. I expect that this will continue down to 500 by the end of the year. Distressed properties (bank owned and short sales) are currently at 41 (SF-16, Con-17, Dup-6 & Lot-2) a little down from last month’s 47. Distressed properties on the island continue to be in the 8% of inventory range.
The Gulf Oil spill has caused a few buyers to hold off from pulling the trigger on sales but has not had any significant effect on sales on the island. I’ve included some graphs from N.O.A.A. which shows, because of the loop current, that the gulf coast from Tampa southward has a less than 1% chance of having oil show up on the beaches. Unfortunately they are projecting an 80% chance of the oil hitting the Keys and the east coast of Florida from Miami to West Palm. I’ve also included a link to the Ocean Circulation Group of The University of South Florida which updates and projects the gulf spill circulation through the gulf every couple days: http://ocg6.marine.usf.edu/~liu/Drifters/latest_rtofs.htm . You can see the effects of the loop current on the Deep Horizon Oil Spill, under “Animation Control” click on play. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that all of the projections for our area are correct and we don’t see any oil.
Another one of Frank & Al’s Great Buys was snapped up this month. The condo at 3702 6th Ave #4 listed at $259,000 was put under contract. There are still a few great buys left on the island. If you’re looking for a pool home in Anna Maria that has excellent rentals than 710 Gladiolus St. listed at $699,000 is the property for you. This 3 bedroom/3 bath pool home is doing $60,000 a year in gross rentals. Do you want to build a custom canal home in quite Key Royale. You can buy the lowest priced canal lot on the island at 718 Key Royale Drive listed at $399,000 and it comes with a set of plans for a 3,300 sq ft home. The lowest priced existing canal home currently on the market located at 606 Key Royale Drive is listed at $365,000 and is ready to be gutted and customized to your specifications. Check out the great Gulf Front Buy at 721 North Shore Drive for $1,475,000. You can’t get on the Gulf for that price. I’m listing a West of Gulf Drive property at 115 Palm Ave for $499,000 this week. You can get a jump on everyone else by calling me right now before it hits MLS.
In summary the island market is still very good as far as numbers of sales are concerned. The distribution of those sales have been consistently 90% under $700K and 10% over $700K for the past 18 months. Buyers are snapping up property at the low end of the market but the high end has been slower than normal. The traditional distribution has been 80% under $700K and 20% over 700K. The skewing of the sales to the low end of the market has put downward pressure on average and median sales prices so the fact that we’re seeing a slight tick up on those prices is a good sign. The number of pended sales are well above normal so we should continue to see strong unit sales continue this year and if so, this will be the strongest sales year since 2005.